<p>At the very heart of Hebrew and Christian scriptures, hospitality is a way to understand the unity of the commandments to love God and love neighbor. God&rsquo;s call to welcome the stranger reveals the radically universal love of God, the fact that God&rsquo;s love overflows for the whole of creation, and that we are called to share that love with all others in the world. However, practicing hospitality&mdash;or solidarity&mdash;is no easy task for North American Christians whose relative power and advantage may block us from hearing, much less practicing, the biblical call to welcome newcomers in our midst.</p>

<p>Between 2000 and 2008, the immigrant population in the United States grew from an estimated 31 million to 37.9 million. Much of this growth has been in the Gulf South. In fact, the Gulf South is home to one fifth of the nation&rsquo;s immigrants. Recent updates from the Migration Policy Institute show that between 2000 and 2008, Mississippi ranked fifth and Alabama sixth in the nation for the largest percentage growth in immigrant populations. Texas ranked second and Florida third for the largest numeric growth in immigrant populations, and Texas ranked third and Florida fourth for the largest immigrant populations. Today, as is in past generations, immigrants contribute to our society in significant ways. In this summer&rsquo;s issue of JustSouth Quarterly, we feature statistics and characteristics of immigrants in the Gulf South.</p>

<p>In the hot Florida sun and in the aisles of our nation&rsquo;s supermarkets and fast food outlets, a small David contends with multiple Goliaths about what is fair and what is not, about human dignity and slave labor, and about what is the &ldquo;common good&rdquo; for those who harvest this nation&rsquo;s crops. &ldquo;David&rdquo; is the Coalition of Immokalee Workers [CIW] (supported by their colleague organization Interfaith Action of Southwest Florida and The Student/Farmworker Alliance), an association of about 4,000 largely Mexican, Guatemalan, and Haitian farmworkers founded in 1993. Its headquarters are in the small town of Immokalee in the remote heartland of South Florida. This David&rsquo;s goal is to have major purchasers of Florida&rsquo;s tomatoes&mdash; over half of our nation&rsquo;s fresh tomato crop&mdash;agree to pay one cent more per pound and sign a Code of Conduct guaranteeing certain rights and working conditions to tomato farmworkers.</p>

<p>In my three years as Pastor of Sacred Heart, last year, 2009, was especially challenging, both because of the acute economic crisis felt around the globe, as well as the horrible violence which has exploded in our sister city across the border, Ciudad Ju&aacute;rez, where the major Mexican drug cartels are caught up in a bloody turf war that results in 10 to 15 violent deaths each day. Ju&aacute;rez is now one of the most dangerous cities in the world, much more so than Baghdad. And our parish is located three blocks from the major pedestrian bridge linking us together.</p>

<p>While I was the director of immigration and refugee services at Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans (CCANO), my department ran one of the few community-based Alternatives to Detention Programs for immigrants ever operated in the U.S. The program served two groups of immigrants being held in detention in Louisiana&mdash;asylum seekers without family members in the U.S. and &ldquo;indefinite detainees&rdquo; without family sponsors. The indefinite detainees were immigrants deemed inadmissible or deportable based on criminal charges but whom the government was unable to remove because no country would accept them. Instead of releasing these individuals, the government chose to detain them&mdash;many for years longer than the criminal sentences that made them deportable.</p>

<p>On May 10th Dr. Sue Weishar testified before the Louisiana House Committee on Transportation, Highways, &amp; Public Works Committee in opposition to HB 342 mandating implementation of the E-Verify system for companies that do business with the state of Louisiana. The committee approved the bill and sent it to the full House for action. For testimony, see here.&nbsp; An alternative e-verify bill ultimately was passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Governor Jindal.</p>

<p>On March 2, 2011, Father Ted Arroyo, SJ, JSRI Alabama Associate, testified against House Bill 56, Alabama's anti-immigrant bill that became law this year, a more anti-immigrant law than the 2010 Arizona statute.</p>

<p><strong>Immigration realities and the call of the Gospel</strong></p>
<p>Today in our society, immigration is a most complex subject that arouses many heated discussions. While there may be valid arguments on both sides of the fence, as disciples of Jesus Christ our first and foremost concern must be for the welfare of the migrant, a human person like ourselves who comes in search of food and sustenance, arriving here &ldquo;thirsty after crossing merciless deserts, naked after being robbed even of their clothing by smugglers at the border, sick from heat-related illnesses, imprisoned in the detention centers.&rdquo;<a id="_ftnref1" title="" href="#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1">1</a>&nbsp; Whatsoever we do to them, we do to Jesus, for the immigrant in our midst is the very presence of Christ among us.</p>
<p>In 2006, to stop the flow of undocumented immigrants, Congress passed the Secure Fence Act authorizing the plan to construct a multi-billion dollar fence across hundreds of miles of the southern border of the United States.</p>

<p><strong>U.S. Government resumes deportations to devastated and diseased country</strong></p>
<p>Despite vigorous protestations from human rights and immigrant advocacy groups across the country, the U.S. government resumed deportations to Haiti on Friday, April 15. At approximately 10 AM that morning 19 Haitians who had been held in detention centers in Louisiana since early December, 2010, were put on a flight to Port-au-Prince. On January 20, 2011, the U.S. conducted the first deportations to Haiti since the January 2010 massive earthquake when it sent back 27 detainees, who were subsequently detained in Haiti in filthy police sub-stations holding cells without food, medical care, toilet facilities, or clean water. Less than 10 days after the January flight one of the detainees, Wildrick Guerrier, was dead from cholera-like symptoms.</p>

<p>The rights of migrants (refugees, immigrants, asylum seekers, migrant&nbsp;workers, and internally displaced persons-IDPs) begin with the foundation of Catholic Social Teaching, namely, the dignity and sanctity of the human person. The right to life and the&nbsp;conditions worthy of life&mdash;when threatened by poverty, injustice, religious intolerance, armed conflict, and other root causes&mdash;give rise to the right to migrate.¹</p>